Blog
The Desire to Win
March 29, 2024The best competitors in the world seem to have a maniacal desire to win, which in difficult times, enables them to overcome the challenges of the moment, and to succeed more often than not. Think about Michael Jordan, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal, and Monica Seles. All of these athletes were able […]
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Learning to Finish Matches
November 8, 2023One of the many difficult challenges in the sport of tennis is the concept of finishing. Finishing a point; finishing a game; finishing a set; and of course the ultimate challenge, finishing a match. If you want to win more matches, you must learn to finish. There is no clock at the end of the […]
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Choose to Be Optimistic
August 30, 2023At the beginning of a tennis match, you don’t actually know who will win. Based on rating or ranking, you may be able to make an educated guess as to who will emerge victorious, but there is no guarantee of that outcome. It is uncertain. How you feel about uncertainty, in tennis and in life, […]
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Embracing Uncertainty
August 21, 2023You as the Fan If you are a sports fan, you likely get excited to watch your favorite teams and players compete, especially in big events. You watch the competition in person or on television, because you want to see who wins. And before the event starts, you don’t know who is going to win. […]
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Continuing to Believe in Yourself When You Aren’t Getting Results
August 4, 2023The reality of tennis is that you will lose. Points, games, sets, and matches: you will lose all of these during your tennis career. Dealing with loss comprises a large part of the tennis player’s journey, and there is a level of suffering associated with all of this losing. Putting these experiences into perspective becomes […]
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Sport as a Life Project
February 23, 2023As a human being, there are many activities that you engage in each day and week. You may be a student and attend classes on a regular basis. Or perhaps you have a job/career that demands many hours per week. Playing a musical instrument could be a passion. If you are reading this, you are […]
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Obstacles Are Necessary
August 25, 2022Obstacle. Your immediate reaction to this word is probably somewhat negative. That’s understandable given the common definition of obstacle as “something that impedes progress or achievement” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Who wants progress or achievement impeded? I think many people would prefer to achieve their goals without too many obstacles. How about you? The Obstacle Is the […]
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Momentum in Tennis
July 20, 2022Do you think momentum is a real thing in tennis? How about in other sports? I ask this question of you not as a fan, but as a player – as someone who lives through the competitive experience. Because a concept like momentum, whether you believe in it or not, comes down to how you […]
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How To Earn The Win
June 24, 2022Note: This is a follow up to a recent post on How Not To Lose. If you haven’t read that post, go ahead and do so prior to reading about how to earn the win. In my previous post on How Not To Lose, you learned what to do in the face of overwhelming pressure […]
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Enjoyment And Competition
May 27, 2022Introduction One of the most important aspects of being competitive is the enjoyment of playing the game and wanting to compete. For truly competitive athletes, competing and battling is something they want to do, and they embrace that aspect of sport. When someone asks them to play, they eagerly say YES! They can’t wait to […]
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